DHAKA, Oct 23, 2019 (BSS) – Planning Minister MA Mannan today hoped that the gap between the rich and the poor would be bridged in the coming years through implementation of various plans and programmes of the government including the Delta Plan 2100.
“We’ll implement the Delta Plan 2100 as an overall national mega plan…….like other economies we hope that we’ll be able to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor to a level which is expectable through this exercise (Delta Plan and other plans),” he said.
The Planning Minister was addressing a consultation with the development partners on the implementation of “Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100” as the chief guest at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Organized by the General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission, the function was chaired by GED member Dr Shamsul Alam, who also made a power-point presentation on the plan. Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office Md Abul Kalam Azad, Secretaries, Ambassadors of different countries and representatives from the development partners also spoke on the occasion.
Referring to the concerns of many over the ‘growing disparity’, the Planning Minister said, “We hope that the matter of disparity between the bottom line and upper line will be addressed to a large extent from this exercise (Delta Plan 2100 and other plans).”
Terming this Delta Plan 2100 as a ‘game changer’ in the overall aspect of the country, Mannan said this 100-year plan would act like an umbrella as it would be implemented through the Perspective Plans, five-year plans, and the year-wise Annual Development Programmes.
Regarding implementation of the Delta Plan and its necessary resource mobilization, he said, “We want to implement this plan as being self-reliant. But, if anyone wants to take part towards implementation of this plan voluntarily, we’ll welcome them and also our development partners.”
Mentioning that the government has been taking all the necessary measures to protect deltaic country like Bangladesh from various climate change impacts, the Planning Minister sought cooperation from all the development partners and neighboring countries towards implementation of this long-term plan.
Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office Md Abul Kalam Azad said the Delta Plan is a guiding principle for Bangladesh and some of the deltaic countries in the world can avail the experiences of Bangladesh in this regard.
GED Member Dr Shamsul Alam said the Delta Plan 2100 is a dynamic plan and it would be updated in every 5 to 10 years.
Water Resources Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar said his Ministry has already started implementation of two projects under the Delta Plan 2100 underscoring the need for availing more assistance from the development partners in the coming years to implement more projects in line with this plan.
The representatives from the development partners at the consultation including from UNDP, UN, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, KfW, UK and IMF underscored the need for addressing water pollution, river encroachment, ensuring more participation of the private sector and prioritization of projects during the implementation of this plan.
The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 with the vision of ‘Achieving safe, climate resilient and prosperous delta’ seeks to integrate the medium to long-term aspirations of Bangladesh to achieve an upper middle income status and eliminate extreme poverty by 2030 and to become a prosperous country by 2041.
The Delta Plan 2100 proposed a total of 80 projects including 65 physical projects and 15 institutional and knowledge development projects at the first phase to 2030. Its total capital investment cost is estimated at Taka 2,978 billion or around $ 37 billion which is 12 percent of the current GDP.